An MdmSource that represents a set of data that is organized by one or more MdmDimension objects.

The structure of the data that is represented by an MdmDimensionedObject is similar to that of a multidimensional array. Like the dimensions of an array, the MdmDimension objects that organize an MdmDimensionedObject provide the indexes for identifying individual cells. For example, suppose you have an MdmMeasure (a subclass of MdmDimensionedObject) that represents sales data, and the data is organized by product, time, and customer. You can think of the data as occupying a three-dimensional array with the product, time, and customer dimensions providing the organizational structure. The values of these three dimensions are indexes for identifying each particular cell in the array, which contains a single sales value. You must specify a value for each dimension in order to identify a value in the array. In relational terms, the MdmDimension objects can be thought of as a compound (that is, composite) primary key for the MdmMeasure.

Another subclass of MdmDimensionedObject is MdmAttribute, which provides a mapping from the members of an MdmDimension to values that represent characteristics of the members, such as their color or their gender. For an MdmAttribute, the data is organized by the MdmDimension for which it holds characteristics, just as the data for an MdmMeasure is organized by its MdmDimension objects.